Making Lemonade in Bristol, TN

June 13, 2013: today began with an early morning workout at the hotel's "fitness room". This consisted of an actual hotel room with one treadmill and one bike in it. Hilarious. Then I ran the two miles to Toyota to be the first in line. I was there before any employees. The guy told me they would do their best to look at the car ASAP and diagnose the problem. I was given a rental car for free for the day. When I finally got back to the hotel Molly and I enjoyed the free breakfast together. The dealership called to inform us we needed a new fuel pump and the part would arrive the next morning. So, we re-uped our hotel room or another night and set out for an adventure in the loaner car. We went to Bristol Motor Speedway for a tour of one of Nascars major tracks. The place is HUGE! An older woman loaded us in a van with 5 other people and drove us around the property. At first I thought it was going to be a boring tour and I could barely hear anything she said in the back row over the sound of the air conditioning pumping so hard. Eventually she took us into the owners suite which was impressive. After that it got better. She drove us onto the track and without warning starts zooming around the track or two fast laps in the van! It was so cool, she even went on the sloped corners a bit. She parked on the track in a corner and let us out. I could not believe how steep the track in the corners were. It was a serious incline to get up. The kids slid own on their bums. It was really interesting, you have NO idea from tv how serious the inline is. Then we went on the victory area where they celebrate after a win. Then back in the van and she ripped into pit row for a pit stop. After the official tour was over we went back into the stadium and explored around. We brought the kids home for a nap, Casey and James went exploring in town. After naps we went to see the Holston Dam and watershed area which was neat. Bristol is on the VA-TN border, the main shopping street has one side in VA and one side in TN. We did some errands then the kids took a quick dip in the hotel pool. We showered, had something to eat and are calming them own for bed. Considering where we are, and our situation, we had a pretty fun and unique experience today. I want to come back on a race day with beer and grit chips in my hand!